It is the holiest of weeks as we look to the cross. As we sigh heavy in our own suffering that overlays this week, we look to our Lord and Savior, grasping His grace in suffering. I chose this hymn because when trials scream and cry loud, its words become my own prayer. Maybe our dear sister, Fanny Crosby, the blind hymnwriter, understands our need to pray and vividly “re-see” Jesus on the cross, when we too are suffering.
Jesus, please keep us near the cross, this holy week and forever.
Your grace brought me to the cross before
Jesus, keep me near the cross;
there a precious fountain,
free to all — a healing stream —
flows from Calv’ry’s mountain.
“Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross,” Crosby, F., 1869
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ (Eph 2:13 ESV).
Beloved in Christ, He brought us near. He healed our sin-sick souls when Jesus became sin on the cross, taking all the just wrath for our sin and appropriate condemnation of our holy, holy, holy God. Jesus endured the cross “for the joy that was set before him” (Heb. 12:2). That joy? It was for you and me, keeping His destined appointment, written in the calendar from before there was time. God incarnate held fast to the cross when He could have easily terminated the entire process with a single breath. No, it all had a purpose. He remained there for you and me, because we are the guilty ones.
Near the cross, a trembling soul,
love and mercy found me;
there the Bright and Morning Star
shed its beams around me.
Because you are a believer in Christ, you no longer need to tremble from God’s eternal wrath. His love and mercy chose you, sought you, found you, removed the blinders of your heart, drew you, forgave you, took your sin, and gave you the righteousness of Christ instead.
Your suffering does not change any of this reality.
![For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in [Jesus], and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross (Col. 1:19-20 ESV).
Jesus, keep me near the cross](https://i0.wp.com/laurihogle.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Col-1-19-20.png?resize=750%2C750&ssl=1)
Your grace keeps me near the cross as I suffer today
Near the cross! O Lamb of God,
bring its scenes before me;
help me walk from day to day
with its shadow o’er me.
When pain overwhelms, singing the gospel to myself helps me, so now I’m sharing with you every week. Let’s daily consider Jesus, repent, and hold tight to His love, strength, and power, as the Lord brings the scenes of the cross before us this holy week.
Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted (Heb. 12:3 ESV).
In our daily suffering, the Lamb of God who took away our sin, by a single offering, is sanctifying and perfecting us (Heb. 10:14). Let’s consider His work on the cross so we don’t grow weary in this sanctifying work He is doing.
Your grace gives me hope for tomorrow and my future
Near the cross I’ll watch and wait,
hoping, trusting ever,
till I reach the golden strand
just beyond the river.
Let’s bring our future home’s scene into view. By His amazing grace, this is our hope today.
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads (Rev. 22:1-4 ESV).
In the cross, in the cross,
be my glory ever;
till my raptured soul shall find
rest beyond the river.
By Your grace, help me glorify You today, abiding near the cross as I suffer
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me (Gal. 2:20a ESV).
But far be it for me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world (Gal. 6:14 ESV).
How can we bear our smallest of crosses that yet feel so impossibly heavy? By His daily and sufficient grace, it’s possible to bear because He lives in us and keeps us near the cross. This is our God-glorifying life, fellow sufferer. Could it be that, in our suffering, He’s helping us see ourselves crucified and dead to this world’s pulling temptations?
Beloved in Christ, let’s consider Jesus’ prayer for us as He faced His suffering on the cross…and consider His glory:
“Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed” (Jn. 17:1-5).
A playlist for this holy week
I’m praying that this week’s playlist will help us re-turn our eyes and hearts to the glorious work of Jesus on the cross, taking us through the scenes of this holy week as we pray in song. I’m praying we can all grasp His amazing grace and cling to our hope in Christ, in the singing.
If it would bless you to receive these hymns and spiritual songs to focus deeply on what Jesus did for us on the cross, sign up here and it will come to you for use in your personal worship time this holy week. To God be the glory, great things He has done, for you and for me, beloved.
